John Bauer was born in Jönköping, Sweden in 1882 by the German Slaughter Joseph Bauer and his wife Emma Wadell. He grew up with his two brothers in a flat above his father’s butcher shop, just outside Jönköping. 

Aged on 16 years old, he went to Stockholm to study art. He started at the Althins painter’s school first. In the fall of 1900 he was accepted as student at the Royal Academy of Art. Even as a student at the Academy he received commissions for illustrations. The same year, a fellow student named Ester Ellqvist was accepted. After six years they got married.

 The boy and the big troll

Together with Esther, he traveled to Germany and Italy for a year's study. In 1907, John got the commission to illustrate "Bland tomtar och troll" (Among pixies and trolls) which was to become his most famous and loved work. Through these illustrations, John Bauer became the great fairy-tale artist to the Swedish people. Bauer illustrated this yearly book until 1915.

On the 20th of November 1917, the canal boat "Per Brahe" sank in Lake Vättern on its way to Stockholm. With it perished John Bauer, his wife and their young son, Putte. His dramatic death gave him more publicity than most of his work.